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<blockquote data-quote="Zsig" data-source="post: 4329711" data-attributes="member: 56809">Back in 3.X and earlier editions, I used to run a NPC as a PC pretty much 90% of the times, sometimes even more than just one (2-3). And it worked pretty well to me, I never really had any problems with that.Now, on 4E I tried to do the same. On the first session we're playing I had only about 3/4 of the party with me (or more precisely 4 out of 6 players), and I wanted to fill in the &quot;missing&quot; spot with a character controlled by me (an Eladrin Wizard). It didn't work, in fact, by the end of the session all players wanted to kill the NPC ... the fighter even considered using Tide of Iron to drop him on a pit ... ... ...From what I could notice, it didn't work out too well because:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">It's quite hard to manage resources of the NPC when you know what they're up against...and pretend you don't know. In 3.X it wasn't such a problem when they'd rest after the encounter anyway.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">4E encourages team play rather than individual thinking, and it's hard for the PCs to communicate with you what they'd like for the NPC to do, without effectivelly controlling your NPC for you.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Most of the times, the players won't be fully aware of your NPC potentials, this means that they'll most of the time elaborate tactics witout considering the NPC's actions.</li>
</ul>For these reasons mostly, the NPC ended up being more a hinderance than actual help.That or maybe the Wizard was simply a bad choice for the encounters I set up for them. Regardless, I'm not doing it again.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Zsig, post: 4329711, member: 56809"] Back in 3.X and earlier editions, I used to run a NPC as a PC pretty much 90% of the times, sometimes even more than just one (2-3). And it worked pretty well to me, I never really had any problems with that. Now, on 4E I tried to do the same. On the first session we're playing I had only about 3/4 of the party with me (or more precisely 4 out of 6 players), and I wanted to fill in the "missing" spot with a character controlled by me (an Eladrin Wizard). It didn't work, in fact, by the end of the session all players wanted to kill the NPC ... the fighter even considered using Tide of Iron to drop him on a pit ... ... ... From what I could notice, it didn't work out too well because: [list] [*]It's quite hard to manage resources of the NPC when you know what they're up against...and pretend you don't know. In 3.X it wasn't such a problem when they'd rest after the encounter anyway. [*]4E encourages team play rather than individual thinking, and it's hard for the PCs to communicate with you what they'd like for the NPC to do, without effectivelly controlling your NPC for you. [*]Most of the times, the players won't be fully aware of your NPC potentials, this means that they'll most of the time elaborate tactics witout considering the NPC's actions. [/list] For these reasons mostly, the NPC ended up being more a hinderance than actual help. That or maybe the Wizard was simply a bad choice for the encounters I set up for them. Regardless, I'm not doing it again. [/QUOTE]

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